


Mind the Gap

by LittleMissO



Category: Holby City
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-30
Updated: 2019-08-30
Packaged: 2020-09-30 14:18:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,502
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20448506
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LittleMissO/pseuds/LittleMissO
Summary: The Flonko Show (ep 3) threw out a fic prompt. This is what happens when you just can't resist it.





	Mind the Gap

Mind the Gap

“…. you can go suck my silicone dick!” Serena almost exploded into the phone before angrily poking at it to end the call and flinging it across the sofa she was sitting on - where it bounced off the cushion in the opposite corner and landed forlornly on the seat.

“That’s one hell of an image!” came a voice from behind her. Serena spun round to see who was there. She didn’t really need to. She would recognise that voice anywhere. Bernie was leaning against the living room door frame. Her face was a picture of bemused hilarity. A slightly flustered Serena attempts a response.

“It was a perfectly appropriate comment in the circumstances.”

Bernie does a double take and her eyes widen in incredulity.  
“I’m intrigued. In what circumstances, exactly, would that have been an appropriate comment?”

“When you have to deal with the most incompetent, exasperating and idiotic joiner ever to set foot in Holby,”

“Didn’t he turn up again?” Bernie offered carefully, being well aware that the recent communication between Serena and the carpenter they had chosen to replace the door in the house they now shared, had become increasingly fraught. It was in a large part due to their attempts to navigate the delivery of the door that had been ordered to replace the previously incorrectly ordered one. The initially cordial communications had rapidly deteriorated as Serena had received a series of excuses, each more outrageous than the last, for the carpenters inability to actually deliver the door to them. Serena had countered this unacceptable situation with accusations of him holding their door hostage. This had not gone down overly well. Bernie was not particularly optimistic that that things would have improved much. Certainly the tail end of the conversation she had just walked in on between Serena and the carpenter had not disabused her of this impression.

“Oh, he turned up alright. He even brought the door with him.” Serena confirmed in a voice that, whilst it seemed calm enough on the face of it, any F1 who’d been unfortunate enough to get on her wrong side would have immediately recognised as having a very strong undercurrent of danger. 

“Isn’t that a good thing?” Bernie asks treading very carefully. 

“Oh, you’d think! It might have been a good thing if he’d been anything resembling a competent carpenter. Turns out competent is the last thing he is….”

“But he only had to hang the last door. His mate did all the others. How could he have got that wrong? It’s not exactly rocket science. Bread and butter to a carpenter, I would have thought...”

“And yet….” Serena comments with raised eyebrow. 

“What did he do? Tell me.”

“Oh no!” counters Serena, adding a wagging finger for emphasis “This you have to see for yourself. Follow me.” she adds as she lifts herself off the sofa and makes her way past Bernie, through the door, and to the foot of the stairs. “Come on.” she beckons. Bernie, knowing that with Serena in this mood resistance is futile, drops her handbag on the floor and heads after Serena.

“See!” declares Serena, gesturing dramatically at their new bedroom door as soon as it came into view. Bernie does indeed see. She’s trying very hard to stifle laughter at the sight. She knows that would not go down well with Serena. In fairness to Bernie the sight that greets her is highly comical – or would be if they had not paid good money for it. Still, Bernie couldn’t help but see the funny side. The door is exactly the one they had wanted. A perfect match for all the others. Except for one detail. Propped neatly by the side of the new door, against the wall was an off cut of wood, six inches high and exactly the same width as the door it stood next to. The door itself had a gap at the bottom of about six inches. It was a perfect match to the off cut.

“Why is there a gap under our bedroom door?” asked Bernie, knowing full well that she was inviting a tirade but too intrigued to know what had happen not to ask.

“You know, that’s exactly what I asked the carpenter. Apparently his mate cut the door, so he couldn’t be entirely sure. First he suggested it might be so a cat could get in and out of the room. He did admit though, that seeing as we don’t have a cat, it might not be a particularly useful feature for us. His second, and only other, suggestion was that it could be for ventilation. Even he had to admit that was a ridiculous suggestion. My own favourite explanation is slightly less generous. I think that the both of them are, well, there’s only one word for it. I know it’s acceptable in Scotland. I may have a Scottish surname, but that’s obviously not Scottish enough to say it. It does begin with a ‘C’.”

“You really are annoyed, aren’t you?”

“Aren’t you? I mean, look at it! It’s ludicrous!!”

“Well it’s certainly unusual.”

“That’s not the only thing! Push the door.”

“I’m not sure that I want to.” says Bernie looking at the indigence on Serena’s face.”

“Push it.” Serena commands in a voice that brooks no argument. This time Bernie does as she is told. She gives the door a tentative shove. It all but wobbles in the frame.

“That doesn’t seem very secure to me.” she notes

“Ah. Now. That would be because it isn’t. And would you like to know why?”

“I think I’m about to find out.” Bernie mutters. Serena is so far into full flow that, fortunately for her, she barely notices what Bernie has said.

“That would be because the carpenter decided to ignore the heavy, and handy, hint provided by three three screw holes in the hinge and use just the one screw.” 

“That’s ridiculous! One good slam mid row and it will fall right off.”

“Quite!”

“Where did we find this man? He’s a complete dick!” Bernie exclaims, causing a splutter of laughter to come from Serena. “What?” Bernie asks, taken aback by the sudden change of mood, not quite sure how what she’d said had prompted it. 

“I should have guessed he was as soon as I found out his name was Richard.” It’s this observation that succeeds in changing the atmosphere of tension and sarcasm to one of hilarity. Neither woman can help but laugh out loud at this. The sound of deep, long and loud belly laughs reverberates through the house. It’s a few minutes before they manage to call a halt to the laughter - the absurdity of the of the situation had quite overcome them.

“Look” says Bernie when she can speak again, “You’ve obviously had a rotten day. Ric, Fleur and a couple of others were planning to stop off for a drink at Albie’s. Why don’t you join them? Relax a bit. While you’re there I’ll have a look at this door and see what I can do with it”

“You’re not a carpenter!”

“No, but I did pick up a couple of tricks in the army alongside driving a tank. It’s not like I can make it any worse.”

“I suppose not.” admits Serena. “Oh, go on then. Do your worst!” Bernie smiles.

“Come on then. I’ll give you a lift to Albies. If you get a cab home you can order by the bottle.”

It’s a good two hours later when a much more relaxed Serena walks back through the front door. Bernie is sat on the sofa, feet up on the footstool, glass of whiskey in her hand, head thrown back against the back of the seat, eyes closed, breathing slow and steady. She’s fast asleep.

It’s Serena’s turn to lean against the door frame and take in the sight before her. Bernie has changed out of the clothes she had worn to the hospital for her shift that morning. Instead she’s wearing a pair of skintight, old ripped jeans, which are giving Serena tantalising glimpses of thigh and leg – or would have been if her eyes hadn’t been drawn to the top Bernie was wearing. It’s a plain white vest top, nothing special in itself - but the way it was clinging to every curve of Bernie’s chest was rather special (definitely no bra under that, Serena noted). The way the cut of the sleeves emphasised the toned muscles of Bernie’s arms had not gone unnoticed by Serena. She was quite the sight and had obviously been working hard. Her hair, which had clearly started out pulled back relatively neatly, was now escaping. Wisps framed her face, some of them, Serena noted, were stuck damply to her forehead. As Serena stepped nearer and looked closer she could see the gentle glow of sweat on Bernie’s chest and face, as well as a smattering of dust and dirt. The grey smudge on the tip of her nose was particularly endearing, Serena thought. She’s was clearly exhausted. Deciding to let her sleep, Serena walked quietly towards her and took the glass of whisky from her hand. Bernie, it seemed, was not quite as fast asleep as she looked, because the removal of the glass caused her to wake with a start.

“Hello you.” she mumbles, looking sleepily, up at Serena.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to to wake you.”

“Nothing a kiss won’t make up for.” Serena puts the glass down on the coffee table, leans forward and plants a slightly too long to be chaste kiss on Bernie’s lips, and takes a seat next to her.

“Did you have a good time?” Bernie asks as she stretches out her back. 

“I did. Ric was giving me the low down on his latest paramour and the Shiraz was good. I decided it was time to make tracks when Fletch started talking about the football, but not before I managed to get a number for a carpenter from Fleur, so we can get that door sorted out.”

“No need.”

“Well we can’t live with it like that.”

“We don’t have to. I told you I’d sort it and I did.”

“Really?”

“Course.”

“How did you managed that?” Serena asks genuinely surprised.

“It was pretty simple in the end. I used the electric plane and the workbench in the garage to set up a makeshift Jointing machine. I got the angle spot on ninety degrees and levelled the door and off cut so they were a perfect match. Then it was just a case of drilling a few holes for dowelling and using some wood glue to join it back on. I cut it to the right length and then I rehung it. I even used three screws.”

“You really did pick up some stuff in the Army. I’m impressed!”

“I should hope so too. I didn’t make a bad job of it even if do say myself.”

“Well, come on – show me.” says Serena enthusiastically as she jumps up from the sofa. Bernie leads the way upstairs and Serena can’t quite help but notice how the tool belt, slung low over her hips, is emphasising the curve of her backside and the slim dip of her waist. She could become very keen on this handy DIY look Bernie, she concedes to herself. Very keen indeed.

“Ta da!” announces Bernie, with more than a touch of irony, as she gestures at the door.

“Is that the same door?” asks Serena, stunned to find that Bernie has been as good as her word. Apart from a faint line where the off cut had been re-attached (which you could only really see if you looked closely) the door really was as good as new. 

“You didn’t think I could do it, did you?” says Bernie, with a face full of smugness and an obvious ‘I told you so’ playing about her lips.

“No, I have to be honest, I didn’t. And I’m sorry. You’re a woman of many talents. I underestimated you.”

“It’s good to know I can still surprise you I suppose.”

“It seems you’re full of surprises.” says Serena, “I can see that it looks good, I’ve got no idea how secure it is though”

“Well, go on, give it a good slam if you think it needs testing.”

“Oh, it does need testing – but I have a better idea.” Serena steps forward so that Bernie is positioned between her and the new door. She reaches out both hands and slips a finger from each into a belt loop either side of Bernie’s jeans. She pulls Bernie closer, leans forward, and plants her lips on Bernie’s. It hadn’t been what Bernie was expecting by way of testing the door, she is however always ready and willing to kiss Serena – her lips are irresistible, so she goes with it. Serena’s tongue flickers and teases at Bernie’s mouth, and Bernie makes no complaint, although she does open her mouth. When they break the kiss Bernie asks

“Not that I’m complaining, but I thought we were testing the door?”

“We are.” Serena confirms.

“I don’t….” Bernie starts, but is cut off by Serena’s lips once again covering hers. This time the kiss is deeper and more intense. Bernie forgets all about the door and testing it, until, that is, she finds herself all but slamming into it. She hadn’t realised, entranced as she was with Serena’s kisses, that the whole time their lips had been together and Bernie’s attention had been otherwise engaged, Serena had been walking them backwards steadily until they’d hit the door with a wallop. 

“Ow!” Bernie commented, more on the surprise of the impact than than any pain, causing the embrace their lips were engaged in to break. “What was that for?”

“Door seems pretty stable and secure to me.” Serena says, eyes glinting. She steps forward and pushes Bernie right up against the door, removes her hands from her the belt loops in which they are still hooked, and loses them in the delicious softness of Bernie’s golden hair, as she once again leans forward to kiss Bernie. This time Serena slips her legs between Bernie’s thighs and pins them together, hip to hip. Bernie’s hands come down to rest on the generous and enticing curve of Serena’s backside. Serena murmurs against Bernie’s mouth.

“You know, I’m pretty good with my hands too – in the right circumstances...”

“I’d say pretty good was an understatement.” Bernie replies as she brings her hand up to cradle Serena’s neck. “It seems I’m not the only one capable of surprises either.”

“Mmm.” Serena mutters “How so?”

“That silicone dick you told the carpenter he could go suck – have you really got one?”

Serena raises an eyebrow.  
“You’ll just have to wait and see what I’ve got.” and she reaches down to the door handle, and with one fluid motion pushes the handle down, the door open and Bernie into the bedroom.


End file.
